TWO men who destroyed a vehicle which murder squad detectives wanted to examine had not done it to hide their own guilt, Mold Crown Court was told on Friday.

The prosecution said it would not be suggesting that defendants John Andrew Thomas, 37, of Rhuddlan Court, Elles-mere Port, and Charles Jones, 32, of Alyn Road, Buckley, had been responsible for the unsolved murder of North Wales widow Elsie Hughes.

It was 'common ground' between the prosecution and defence that their disposal or destruction of the blue Ford Escort van was to avoid prosecution for deception offences, explained prosecutor Karl Scholz.

Jones had pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice on the basis that when he disposed of the van, he knew that the vehicle may possibly have been involved in the murder of Elsie Hughes.

But Thomas pleaded guilty on the basis that he had not known about that until later, a claim not accepted by the prosecution.

Thomas' case was adjourned to July 20 and Jones' case was adjourned for sentence until July 21, when both will be sentenced together.

Both were remanded in custody in the meantime.

Retired school cook Mrs Hughes, 90, died a day after being attacked in her home in Hawarden Road, Abermorddu, near Wrexham in September of last year.

Detectives said around £200 in cash had been stolen from the home of the lady.